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Live in Rome, Circolo degli artisti, Oct 12, 2011

I knew I couldn't expect to see those "The Telescopes", those whom were formed in 1987. Holy shit, it's 2011, 24 bloody years. Naively, I confess I hoped to see at least
Joanna Doran, or at least their lead guitarist David Fitzgerald. But, no way. And I also think that maybe it was not that appropriate to use a photo of their old line-up to promote the show. Anyway, what's left of The Telescopes, nowadays, is Stephen Lawrie, original and sole core member of this seminal as well as underrated Band that I keep on loving since the very first song of theirs I heard. Now, Stephen Lawrie is touring Europe, performing live tracks from Taste, LP released in 1989 via What Goes On records and the year after by Cheree rec (recently, Bomp! did it too). He's now backed up by the five guys of One Unique Signal, who also performed 4/5 tracks of their own: a wall of sound loaded by the fuzzy and cyclic repetition of three electric guitars, bass and percussions. Mostly instrumental. One of these guys has also sung something, but the mic's volume was barely audible, so I can't say much. Their sound impact was huge, but frankly I'm not anymore that impressed by this kind of booOOom tricks, anyway, they were good, and the audience (not much, actually) was pretty pleased by the short set. People love loud noise burst. And distorted wha wha galore.And probably also mr Lawrie does, too - wiki says he's 42, - I read in an interview this year, He said he was pretty fond with OUS' record Villains to a Man (2009, The Gene Pool rec).So, after One Unique Signal's live set, a short break, they come back and place the microphone in the middle of the stage. The first song is There Is No Floor, Stephen bumps on the mic and it takes a few seconds before he's down on the floor. There is a cardboard of wine close to the drum kit, it's Tavernello, - in Italy, we generally use to cook, while homeless people at the train station guzzle it to stay drunk, because there's nothing cheaper. Let's say that mr Lawrie - slim, even with all the hair, pants andshirt like he has just got out from the office and thrown away the tie, - looked pretty high, or, let's say, in the right Tavernello-mood for that. Anyway his performance great. And of great fun. He jumped off the stage, like a bradipo, a long cable for the microphone, and he ended up on the floor again, surrounded by the audience, at their feet, crawling, while the OUS keep on playing wild noise on stage (especially on buzzing soundscape of Suicide, that literally drove all of us mad). Except their drummer: mr ice man. Great drummer, no sweat. A robot. I can't remember what song was (maybe Violence, - no, it was the buzzing break in Suicide - see the video), but at a certain point, a kid passed his mobile phone to Stephen, to make him talk to a friend, - a short crazy conversation, - totally hilarious, - the audience erupted in applause, he gave hugs and shook hands.. love love love.Unfortunately "The Telescopes" didn't play Celeste, Everso, and other trippy songs I particularly love, - but you know, when they started and play The Perfect Needle (the only encore) I felt like well fed, like also during the slow march of Please, Before You Go.Call it shoegaze, noise, psych noise rock. It was great. The OUS and Stephen Lawrie did their thing.The show was free admission / donation, something I have particularly appreciated.